Recalbox on Picade?

Picade
1

Has anyone tried using Recalbox on Picade? I like how Recalbox just works with hardly any configuration. Thanks.

2

That’s the same question I have.

I don’t know why nobody seams interested in this question? I’ve just build my Picade case and planned to install RetroPie 4 - but now I learned about Recalbox and wonder if this could be an alternative (with less configuration)?

  • Does anybody have any expirience with Recalbox running on a Picade?
  • What are the pros and cons RetroPie vs Recalbox?
  • What can I definitely NOT do with Recalbox?
  • And last but not least; are there any NO GOs between Recalbox and Picade?

Would be nice if anybody has some hints.
Kind regards,
Roman

3

Hi

Maybe no one has that’s why your not getting any replies.

Why not try it and see what happens?

Cheers

Paul

4

I tried it, LCD screen blinked and I heard loud hissing sound, it almost seemed like it was going to overheat and turn off so I just cut the power. Looks like I will use Retropie only

5

Thank you.

That sounds strange. But I will give it a try as well to see by myself what happens.
I cannot imagine why it should not work…?

Will post any new experiences.

Regards,
Roman

6

No problems for me running Recalbox with my Picade!
The only thing was that the Arduino board was recognized as a keyboard and Recalbox needs joystick support In-Game. Therefore I have written an alternative firmware you can use.
Cannot tell you about the pros and cons because I used Recalbox since day one…

7

Are you using Raspberry Pi 3? I have a Pi 3 in it now using RetroPie. I tried Recalbox with Pi 2 on the Picade and had the problem.

8

I’m using a Pi 2 with the current Recalbox release.

9

I set up the Picade with Recalbox 4.0.0 beta5 today and had no problems.

You have to configure the Pimoroni joystick and some buttons since the Raspberry Pi recognizes it as a keyboard / keyboard buttons respectively. But that’s done in 1 minute - and that’s all.
(I’ve configured the joystick, the 6 top buttons and the 2 front buttons. I did not configure the 2 right side buttons - they act as designed as “Enter” and “Esc”. The 2 left side buttons are not configurable because they are for sound volume.)

For an easy usage I leave always an USB Keyboard on the Raspberry Pi connected, since you never know if you need some special keys to configure some things. (For example; you have to hit the TAB key to enter retroarch in case you want to change some buttons for a specific game.)

Conclusion:
As far as I see, RecalboxOS (in my case v4.0.0 beta5 on RPi 3) runs on Pimoroni Picade out of the box, without any adaptions and without any problems. Consider to leave an USB keyboard connected - it’s easier to configure your Picade/RPi/Recalbox.

Regards,
Roman

10

Great! Sounds good. I like Recalbox better because of the favorites option so it looks like I will buy a Pi 3 and put in Picade. I dont have any programming or coding experience so how easy is it to configure the joystick, can I just click configure controllers and do it there?

11

Configuring the Picade joystick/buttons is very easy. As described, the best is you have an USB keyboard connected when you start Recalbox the first time. With this USB keyboard, you can enter the Options menu, in which you will find the Controller configuration menu. Within this, you can assign the joystick and the buttons of the Picade to the appropriate functions.

Remember that if you have configured your Picade controls that this does not mean that you can play every game out of the box. For example; I installed the MAME game Space Invaders Part II but couln’t start it with the Picade controls. So first I had to open Retroarch within the game by pressing the TAB key on the USB keyboard. Within Retroarch I could map the Picade Start button (front right) to start the game.

12

Is there any configuration needed for the LCD so it will power up? In Retropie you had to remove this character # in the HDMI string so it will know to power up the LCD

13

In my case, I didn’t have to edit a configuration file (Recalbox has only one main config file, as far as I remember). I extracted the Recalbox zip file on a FAT32 formatted SD card, put it in the RPi 3 and startet it up - the display of the Picade immediately worked! :-)

May be I have to admit that I use a quite powerful power supply: this one. Don’t know if this has an influence to the display?

Regards.